The Sage of Sussex

Adam Trimingham - The Argus Thursday, 15 May, 2003

THE idea the West Pier should be replaced by a startling, modern pier has been sweeping through Brighton and Hove with the same steady progress fire made through the ancient structure's concert hall earlier this week.

Architects Aros had, by coincidence, produced plans for a futuristic replacement pier on the very day the fire started. Oddly, it was shown on the site of the Palace Pier and also had echoes of the old Chain Pier, destroyed in a storm in 1896.

The Aros pier, tethered to the seabed and responding to the sea with spaces opening and closing as the tide changes, is an inspiring and imaginative concept. There are many people supporting the notion, including hoteliers' chairman Roger Marlowe and Brighton College headteacher Dr Anthony Seldon.

But before we wave goodbye to the West Pier, let's consider a few practical points.

There is £14 million in National Lottery cash committed to a restored pier and none of that would be available for a modem pier. Planning permission has already been granted for a restoration, including a large enabling development to help make it viable.

There is also the minor matter of applying to get rid of a Grade I listed building and removing the cast iron piles from the grip of the sea bed, a task that would probably cost millions of pounds.

The crazed arsonists who set fire to the pier theatre in March and who torched the elegant concert hall this week might have had the aim of scuppering the restoration.

Everyone in Brighton and Hove should hope they do not succeed. If they do, the precedent is there for anyone with a grudge against a structure to start fires. The consequences could include the loss of human life as well as buildings.

It is true that every time the defenceless old pier is attacked by fire, wind or waves, the project becomes more of a rebuild than a restoration but there are plenty of precedents for that.

When Uppark, the fine old house north of Chichester, was destroyed by fire (and that was not arson) the National Trust hardly blinked before deciding to rebuild it as before. Much the same happened with the fires that caused such damage at Hampton Court and Windsor Castle.

The West Pier is part of our seaside heritage. It was probably the most beautiful pier ever built. Now it is a sad skeleton but the permission is in place and the cash available for this glorious and much-loved structure to delight millions of people every year again.

But there is no reason why there should not be a modern pier in Brighton to complement the West and Palace Piers. One possible site would be right between the two at the foot of West Street. It would be a shimmering enticement for people heading to the beach from the city centre.

Many questions would have to be answered before the Aros scheme or anything like it could be constructed. How viable would it be without an enabling development that would be impossible on the pier site and unlikely anywhere else? How would this flimsy-looking structure withstand the worst the Channel can throw at it? Would it compromise the essentially Victorian character of Brighton?

Blackpool can support three piers and Brighton could easily do so. There would be opposition from many quarters, including the Palace Pier and conservationists. But the biggest and boldest schemes in Brighton have always been opposed.

If it stands up financially and physically, let's have a new pier by all means.

But let's have the West Pier as well.